15 down, 45 to go. Another exhausting weekend is in the books. It’s fun to see new places and meet new people, but wow is this tiring!
First things first, I ran the Knoxville Marathon yesterday. It wasn’t a particularly easy run for me, but are they ever? You can read my race report here. Also, I got write-ups today in Knoxville News Sentinel and also in the Knoxville Shopper-News, although I don’t have a link to that second article yet.
Just in case this is your first time here, I’m a marathon runner and a father of three. My middle child, 6-year-old Jack, is severely autistic and I’m attempting to run 60 marathons this year to raise money and awareness for a great charity I’m a part of called Train 4 Autism. So far, I’m accomplishing my goals and I’ve completed 15 of the 60 races.
Mess With The Calf And You Get The Bull
My weekend started a little earlier than I would have liked on Friday. We had an incident with Benjamin at school and I had an issue with how the school was managing his safety. I’m pretty big on protecting Ava, 4, my only daughter, and Jack, 6 1/2, my special-needs child. But nobody messes with Benjamin, 8 1/2, either.
I was in a pretty grumpy mood when I got to his school, but he was pretty happy to see me there, knowing I have his back. As a dad, it was a pretty cool feeling. I didn’t make any friends Friday afternoon, but I wasn’t trying to make any friends. Nobody hits my son and gets away with it. The end.
Proud To Be A Kansas State Wildcat
Most of you probably already know that I’m a K-State grad. We always say “It’s a great day to be a Wildcat!” after big wins, and then we often correct ourselves and say, “Win or lose, it’s always a great day to be a Wildcat!”
Last Thursday, we had an epic game against Xavier in the third round of the NCAA Tournament. I had a blast watching that game, but the double-overtime thriller probably took about 10 years off my life! We lost to Butler Saturday and narrowly missed advancing to the Final Four, but I’m still proud to be a Wildcat. I love my school and I’m glad I chose it.
This season was an unexpected surprise. If you would have told me in October we would have won three times as many Tourney games as rival Kansas, I would have never believed it.
As for the Final Four, I think I’m like about 90 percent of this country, pulling for Butler. I’d love to see a mid-major, with a coach who looks like he still gets carded for beer, win the whole thing. Plus, if the Cats are going to lose, let them lose to the eventual champs!
Good thing college basketball isn’t like college football. Otherwise, we’d be sitting around waiting for Kansas and Syracuse to play in about a month.
I’m Officially Settling Any Five Guys Vs. In-N-Out Debate
I ate Five Guys yesterday after the race. It was absolutely delicious. It was enough for lunch AND dinner.
This was very, very good.
One thing I really liked about Five Guys was that you can get mushrooms on the burger, a huge plus. The fries are pretty tasty, too. I got the cajun variety and they’re super salty, which I dig. They have Coke Zero on the fountain, another huge plus in my book.
The burger tasted like it came straight from my grill, and I was absolutely full afterwards. That says a lot, because I eat a ton, and I rarely get full on race days. All in all, it was a great meal.
That being said, In-N-Out is better. The portions aren’t as big, but bite-for-bite, it holds a slight edge. It’s kind of like a Ferrari beating a Viper in a race. They’re both fast. But one has to be faster. And In-N-Out is better than Five Guys. It’s just a solid burger, with slightly better quality and better vegetables. It’s also easier to eat. And as a tiebreaker, you get a better value for your dollar with In-N-Out. A meal costs about $6 there, vs. about $9 at Five Guys.
I know you were dying to get my analysis on the subject. So, you’re welcome.
Minor Details
I flew home through Atlanta last night. My plane was there on time for the 8:40 p.m. departure. The only thing missing was the pilot. We waited, and waited, and waited. Our on-time arrival time was scheduled for 10:41 and Orange County has an 11 p.m. curfew, so if you miss it, you get re-routed to Los Angeles and then bused down. It makes for a pretty late night, especially when you woke up at 2:10 a.m. Pacific time to get ready to run a marathon in the Eastern time zone.
By 8:40, we hadn’t even started boarding. We started getting on a little before 9 p.m., but then sat there on the tarmac for what seemed like forever. We FINALLY took off at 9:36 p.m. and once we were in the air, they told us we would land at 10:56. We touched down with a nice, rough landing at 10:45 p.m., and we didn’t have to go to LA, but it was a little closer than I would have liked.
The Joys of Technology
I told Tiff to text me or email me if she went to bed so I’d know not to call when we landed. When I powered on my phone, there was no text or email from her, so I sent her a note to let her know we landed safely. I waited a few minutes and didn’t hear from her, so I called her cell (I didn’t want to call the home phone and wake anybody up). About 10 minutes went by, and then I saw … a Facebook status update from her? So I changed my Facebook status to the following:
Sam is mad that Tiff won’t return his texts or calls, but is playing on Facebook. Maybe she’ll reply here? Hey babe, I landed safe, be home in 30!
Well apparently, her cell phone died, and she was just getting it charged back up when she responded to my text at about the same time I posted my status. So, I pulled it down. Only in 2010, huh?
The Joys of Technology, Pt. II
I don’t think I posted this last week, but this was pretty cool, so I figured I’d mention it. On my flight home from Virginia last week, I had a code for a free wi-fi session, so I was able to do all sorts of things — post a race report, update some code on the Operation Jack site, send emails and play around on Twitter and Facebook. But the coolest thing I did was do a video chat with my wife, Benjamin and Ava on iChat. Nothing like saying hi from 35,000 feet!
How cool is this?
Thank You Orler Family!
I met Bob Orler of Knoxville through Operation Jack and Twitter and he offered to put me up at his house over the weekend. I had a nice time hanging out with him, his wife and kids, his brother-in-law and his in-laws. We chatted for a while and watched a fair amount of basketball.
Bob ran his first marathon yesterday and couldn’t have picked a tougher course! We celebrated with Five Guys afterwards and then watched some more basketball. Not only does staying with a host family increase the amount that goes to Train 4 Autism — it makes the time away from my own family a little less lonesome. So thank you Bob and Jennifer!
By the time I’m through with my first 18 races of Operation Jack, I’ll have spent only five nights in motel rooms and nine nights in hosts’ homes.
That’s All For Today
Have a great Monday everybody! I know I say that every Monday, but that’s better than wishing you a lousy Monday right?